VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh is set to vote on May 13. The Assembly and Lok Sabha polls will be held simultaneously during the fourth phase of the seven-phase elections. The gazette notification will be issued on April 18, while the counting will begin on June 4.
After Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced the election schedule, Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena spoke to reporters at the State secretariat in Vijayawada on the poll preparedness. The State has a total of 46,165 polling stations and four lakh employees to ensure elections are conducted peacefully, Meena said.
Emphasising that each polling station will have basic facilities like drinking water, electricity and ramps, the CEO noted that only 40 polling stations are yet to be equipped with the amenities and the same will be completed by March-end. Further, he pointed out that the Election Commission has started distributing the Elector’s Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) and the process will be completed by the end of March.
However, voters can exercise their franchise by producing any of the 12 identification cards such as Aadhaar, MGNREGA card, passbooks, health insurance smart cards, driving licences, PAN cards, passports, pension documents and service identity cards.
Meena said senior citizens aged 80 and above can avail the option to vote from home, which has been introduced for the first time in the country for the ensuing elections. “Voting from home is an optional facility for the elderly and differently-abled people,” he added.
He said voters can apply to vote from home through Form 12, which will be verified by the returning officer (RO). Officials will then mark it as a postal ballot and 10 days before the polling date, special teams will reach the voter’s house, along with a polling officer, videographer and a micro-observer with prior information to the polling parties, and collect their ballot, he explained.
Elaborating on the process of filing nominations, the CEO said candidates should register on the ECI website and submit a physical application to the returning officer. The candidate should also make a security deposit of Rs 25,000 online, he added.
Further, Meena said candidates having criminal cases should publish their credentials in newspapers and television three times before the polling begins. Similarly, the political parties should also publish these details.
Pointing out that enforcement agencies have seized property and cash worth Rs 164 crore even before the election code was invoked, he said Rs 69-crore cash, liquor worth Rs 18 crore, drugs and narcotics worth Rs 30 crore, besides gold and silver worth Rs 41 crore have been recovered. “This is more that what was seized after the election code was invoked in 2019,” he observed.
